Encaustic paintings are made by using molten encaustic medium, which is made of beeswax and damar resin to which pigmented wax, oil paints and inks may be added. Each painting consists of many layers of medium, which are fused with heat from a small torch or heat gun. Objects may be embedded as a form of collage.  Encaustic paints were used as early as the 1st century CE!